


Feelings

by oogonium



Series: Choices [2]
Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: F/M, Vignette, the party, they just dont do much
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-23
Updated: 2018-02-23
Packaged: 2019-03-22 18:59:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,999
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13770486
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oogonium/pseuds/oogonium
Summary: "Reminiscing with your family. Chasing your best friend through a department store. Sitting at the top of a tree with no noise but your own breathing."





	Feelings

Steve Harrington seems too tall and too old to be able to climb trees so easily. Yet, to Kali's complete surprise, there he is, halfway up the giant redwood without even breaking a sweat. He scoots down the branch he's sitting on to grin down at her and she can feel the happiness in his eyes despite the presence of his customary Ray-Bans. She raises an eyebrow, "I would never have guessed you could climb so high with jeans so tight." He simply laughs. "The jeans are for more than making my butt look great, Kal." He makes his way down to the lower branches, lowering his hands toward her. "Now get up here, we're losing daylight." When they get back, neither of them will mention just how much Steve had to help her climb. Kali will complain about the new rips in her favorite pair of jeans despite Steve pointing out that her jeans were ripped, to  _ begin  _ with. Steve will give the Party another speech about 'when he was their age' and enjoying nature while they were still kids, ignoring their claims otherwise. She welcomes the tangible bite of the bark under her hands, the solidity of the wood as she makes her way higher and higher, up the tree. Eventually, she manages to catch up with Steve, already sitting on a thick branch about a third of the way up the tree. His shades are off and his gaze is lost in the horizon of greenery.

"When I was a kid, my dad would drop me off at the park after school- just so he could finish up work. After a while, I got tired of playing on the jungle gym and started with the trees around the park." Kali feels that if she doesn't listen closely, his voice could be carried away with the wind. He looks down at his shades, toying with them, a smile on his face. "The first time I climbed one, my dad thought I'd been snatched or something- got out of the car and screamed his head off for thirty minutes before I heard him." He laughs quietly, turning to her.

"I haven't been up here in years..."

*

The first time they visit her in Chicago, Kali takes them to Bloomingdales. She ignores Steve's questions as they make their way through the throngs of middle-aged customers, packed into the store to complete their holiday shopping, Nancy, and Jonathan following in relative compliance.She doesn't say anything as the store intercom announces they have ten minutes before closing time, or when it announces a five-minute warning, or when her nose begins to bleed during closing time. As she finally leads them to the center of the first floor, she turns to them, smiling like the cat that got the canary. "If it ever seemed like we were getting too wrapped up in our work, we'd head over to the nearest department store and play a round of good, old-fashioned, hide and seek." She relishes the confusion in their faces for a moment before continuing, "It was Dottie's idea at first, apparently it was something she used to do with her old crew in New York.". Steve raises his hand, a suspicious look on his face. "That's great for Dottie, but what are  _ we  _ supposed to do when security comes after us?" She shrugs once, "I guess you only have to worry about getting caught if you're bad at the game, don't you?" Kali tries not the smirk at the competitive glint she sees in his eyes. For a second, she lets herself wonder if this was an echo of the "King Steve" she used to hear about from the kids. She turns back to Nancy and Jonathan, "So, you guys game?" They share a glance before grinning at her. She lets herself grin back. "I'm counting first. You guys have two minutes. Ready? Set.  _ Go  _ ." She tries not to laugh at the sound of three twenty-somethings dashing off like kids in a candy store.

*

It's the end of another Byers-Hopper Christmas party. The kids have set up a twelve-hour campaign in Will's new room. Hopper and Joyce have gone to bed for the night, leaving the four teenagers in charge of the Party- well, leaving Jonathan in charge of the Party, but the other three can pretend otherwise. Jonathan leans back against the couch, comfortably sandwiched between Steve and Nancy, staring up at the ceiling, "I  _ never  _ thought I could eat that much food in one go." Steve nods sympathetically, one hand patting his stomach through the hideous Christmas sweater he's wearing, "I hear you, Byers. I never thought you could eat that much food either." He grins as he half-heartedly dodges the smack Jonathan aims his way. Nancy smiles, but there's a faraway look in her eyes. She speaks into the comfortable silence, voice barely above a whisper. "Can you guys believe it's been three years since everything ended?" Kali feels the mood of the room shift, ever so slightly. Jonathan and Steve are also looking down now, both of them lost in their respective thoughts. She thinks back to where she was, three years ago. Still in some big city, desperately trying to track down Brenner and his men. Knowing her sister was out there, mere miles away, making a new life for herself. She remembers how empty she felt in those months after Jane- on some level, she would always be Jane- left. She looks over a Steve, already looking in her direction with an unknowable look in his eyes. She can see Jonathan turn to Steve, smiling, "Dude, do you remember the nail bat?" She scoffs before muttering darkly, "My car remembers the nail bat." She bites down a smile as Steve responds with a groan, apologizing for "the millionth" time. Nancy has curled into Jonathan's side, still thinking. Her eyes drift over to Kali, sitting on the coffee table in front of them. Her smile grows, just a little bit, "I remember the first time we met..."

Slowly, they begin to sift through the memories of the past few years. Alternate dimensions, underground journalists, secret siblings. They whisper through the things that are still hard to talk about- Kali feels that maybe they always will. She feels a little bit of pride in the fact that they don't whisper through everything, takes it as a sign of growth. Her heart squeezes when she sees Steve holding Nancy's hand as she talks about Barb, not in jealousy, but sympathy, the embers of an angry, violent fire hissing under her skin at the amount of injustice this small group of people has faced- herself included. Eventually, they're all sitting in a circle on the floor, talking through both the memories they shared and the ones they had to go through alone. Jonathan confesses that he still keeps both his and Will's doors open at night, just in case. Steve reveals that he still has the nail bat in the trunk of his car. Kali talks about the nightmares she has- the ones where everyone can see her and there's a man holding a cattle prod. At some point, the kids come back out into the living room in search of snacks. They end up settling down around the four, adding to the conversation. At the very core of who she is, Kali knows what it means to have your childhood taken away from you. Which is why she lets them retell their stories in their own ways. Sometimes they're the heroes of the story- beating the Demogorgon, spying on the Mind-Flayer. Sometimes, they whisper the stories just like their older siblings have. She's forgotten just how much it helps to talk about things, every once in a while. The conversation slowly moves past that period of life, however, and they begin to relive happier memories. El's first birthday. The Snowball. Max breaking the state Dig Dug record. Silly things. Happy things.

Later, when the party's over, Steve leads Kali into his house and up the stairs to his room. They sit upon his bed, wrapped in the duvet, talking still. He kisses her, once. Very softly, he murmurs to her, "I remember the first time we met." She smiles back at him, "So do I." He holds her a little more tightly.

"I'm glad you decided to stay."

*

It's round five, the final round, the round that decides who gets to drink for free for the rest of the night. If Steve can find them all before the end of midnight, he wins. Kali lets herself relax behind a  curtain display. She will never admit it, but she's incredibly relieved her friends agreed to play along. Deep down, she knows games like these were her crew's clumsy way of giving her a little bit of childhood just as much as they were another example of their flagrant disregard for the law. She keeps the memory of their games close to her heart, mentally making space for this memory- one full of a family she's chosen. As she pulls herself out of her train of thought, she hears Nancy let out a disappointed laugh from across the third floor. That means it's just her left. Slowly, she pushes herself back into a standing position, resolving that the best strategy would be to move to the top floor, near the bedding displays. She begins to creep through the aisles, making her way towards the east stairwell. There's a flash of movement from the corner of her eye. She freezes, listening. Within the space of a heartbeat, she hears the tell-tale squeak of Steve's converse against the polished floor of the aisle. She runs for it, taking the steps two at a time. She can hear Steve swear loudly behind her, taking off in a sprint. She swings around, practically flying up the second set of stairs, suppressing a wild, loud laugh at the sound of him closing in on her. She clears the stairs and runs down the right-hand aisle. If she can make it to the carpeted section, she's home free. She turns right again and sees it, right behind the row of unrealistically made beds. She's almost there- almost gone. In hindsight, she should have known Steve wasn't above tackling. They _ barely  _ manage to land on the bed, Kali's head almost thwacking against Steve's. She's so close to bursting into laughter, determined not to break after her comment to Steve. The laughter in her throat dies down as she meets his eyes, though. He's grinning down at her, hair in his eyes, forehead covered in sweat. It's so funny to her, how her need to laugh is gone but the feeling of it inside her chest remains. She can feel her own smile grow as he whispers one single word,

"Gotcha."

*

They're not even that high up. If she squints, Kali can still see the spot where they've parked Steve's car. Why then, does the world feel so far away? She feels Steve twining his hand with hers as he continues to look out to the horizon. She leans her head against his. It's probably her imagination, but she can still feel the warmth of his body, just like it was when she woke up next to him earlier that morning. She thinks back to the butterflies she showed him in the dark of his room. How the evolved into flowers, and birds, and eventually, a garden. The way he looked at her in the first light coming in through the shades. The way he squeezed her hand and told her he had something to show her as well. The way she nodded once and it was enough to make him smile like she'd just given him the world. She comes back to the present moment, squeezing his hand.

"Thank you for showing me this."

He smiles at her, bright as the sunrise.

"Thank you for following me."

 

**Author's Note:**

> Feeling a little shaky, but overall happy with the themes that came out in this one. 
> 
> Hope you enjoy!
> 
> p.s. sorry for the repost, just a little organizational reshuffling


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